Skavarians
"The Skavarian Empire- behold its vast gloriousness! At least that's what they tell you to say. I won't doubt it is a finely built nation, especially in its kindness and trade, but I don't see any glory in the natives and Outsiders who are horridly crushed beneath their soldier's marching feet". ''-Erva's Empire's and History by John Derillo Basic Info The Skavarians are a well known empire who have had a massive affect on those of Erva. The Skavarians are seen by many as the "police" of Erva because of their constant observation on crime in the continent. They have endured criticism from this, but have recieved some positive feedback for their work. As said by one Boscan man ''"The Skavarians have done much f or this land. Their want to keep us safe is something we barely see from these empires. They are almost always the first to respend to certain epidemics or conflicts that occur, and when something happens to them, its as though people don't always notice. I hope the best of luck in the future for Skavar Paliea". '' The current army is the 2nd largest in Erva, with the 1st being the Boscan Army. However, the Boscans may outnumber the Skavarians by 4,500,000-2,500,000, the Skavarians have managed to combine methods of guerilla warfare with advanced war tactics, as well as having scientists working on improving military research, brining them to #1 in military technology. The Skavarians currently use the vast land of Aecia to provide resources to the Skavarian people. They have a method that they use for cutting trees- "For Every Tree Cut, Another is to Be Grown", which means that a tree seed must be planted whenever a tree is cut down. The education of the Skavarians is #1 out of all the empire of Erva. This is due to the "Skavarian Philosophy and Science League", which consists of all of the Skavarian's greatest scientists/philosophers. With their efforts and intelligence, the Skavarians acheive perpetual knowledge. The Skavarians are also currently living off of a healthy economy. The Skavarians currently hold a global trade route with foreign countries and nations across the world, allowing them to sell and purchase goods from across the world. History Started around 1500 AW (After War, which refers to the Bloody War, a massive war that was known by many as an "abandoning of civilization", and killed about 3 million of the people living on Erva , both civilian and soldier) by a small nomadic human tribe in the country of Aecia. The tribe started the Skavarians by discoverin g a large ground of flat land, where they began to set up a village. The leader of the village, known as Skavar Gedwiyl, soon started up the village's militia by stating that at the age of 17, every male in the village without occupation must serve in the militia. The idea of becoming a soldier sounded noble to many however, and it became that it was honorable to serve in the militia. However, after conquering nearby villages and taking the land that belonged to those tribes, the village declared itself an empire in 1525 AW, and began to develop greater forts and villages. Soon, the empire was building castles of stone, and cities with paved streets. The capital city was named Gedwiyl City in honor of Skavar. Eventually, in 1876 AW, it was decided by the king at the time, Urov Ilidic, that in order to gain more soldiers to join the Skavarian Army, they must open themselves up to non-humans. Eventually, differen tiating species began to pour into Skavarian cities, expecting wealth and joy. They recieved this, however, they were struck hard with the empire's laws that limited non-human's rights. However, they still made it into the society well, and decided that the laws were reasonable. The Skavarian Army also decided to give differentiating uniforms from that of humans so it would be easier to identify seperate species within the army. Aecia is currently run by the King (he is called the "Skavar" by the Skavarian peoples) Sentris Paliea, a native of Aecia, who became ruler by defeating the Skavar Matthew Ravane, and putting his family back on the throne (his father, Maino Paliea, was king of the Skavarian Empire, until Ravane banished him from the kingdom by taking the throne in the Urnolian War, in which the Skavarian Empire attempted to take over the kingdom of Urno, but lost, and soon the Urnolian Army was invading Aecia and had attacked and taken control of Gedwiyl City, only to have the kingdom taken back by Sentris Paliea at the age of 17 in 1999 AW). Religion The Skavarians hold an official religion in their kingdoms. This belief is known as Avalism. This belief states that there is one god, known as Ona, an all-powerful being who lives in Hevim, a land of paradise for people to enter when they die. There is a catch however, and it is that one must not have commited one of the Five Deadly Sins: Murder, rape, theivery, deception, and cowardice. If any of these sins are commited (some you would have to have commited more than once, such as cowardice or theivery), then you are to be damned to Undecus, a world of pain and torture within the Afterlife. Undecus is ruled by Kanakar, a demon king who sends out his minions to cause pain and suffering in the mortal world. These minions of his are famine, war, age, pain, disease, fear, sadness, sloth (laziness), and the most feared of all, death. K anakar is one of Ona's two sons. The other son was known as Rufeus, who followed the path of life and happiness, whilst Kanakar believed that love, peace, and happiness were signs of weakness, and that through fear and war you would gain power. Kanakar was named Aleus, until he descended onto Erva and set fire to towns who did not follow the Avalist belief. He returned to Hevim, full of pride of what he did, but when Ona discovered Aleus's acts, he punished him through damnation, saying ''"For your sinful acts, you are eternally damned into Undecus, where you will rule as its inhabitant's terrible lord. Your name shall be Kanakar, after Kuvakar, the foulest beast of which ever roamed this universe" (Kuvakar was a monster that lived in the darkness of the universe, until Ona finally decided to get rid of the beast, as it was threatening to destroy both the mortal world and Hevim). Undead War Pm t052-1.jpg|The hordes of the Undead Army's resurrected warriors and demonic captains. Lrg 1299264620-undead army.jpg|"Kas se'el mord kroul!" "What does that mean?" "I don't know. I think its demonic tongue for some sort of chant, or they're simply swearing at us." Undead army.jpg|"Fear us as we march through your burning streets. Listen to your bones crunch beneath our feet. Do you see your coming death revealed? All of your people shall be killed"- One of the many demonic chants shouted by the Undead Army's demon commanders. Serpent Ancient.jpg|"Have you ever heard of Sepentus?" "Who?" "Sepentus. You know, the giant serpent demon propecized to destroy the world?" "Uh...no, but it definitely sounds scary.' 317d.jpg|"Do you think Gedwiyl will survive the siege?" "I'm not certain, so for now, I can only hope". The Skavarians involvement with the Undead War is, compared to many others, "an important role in the most threatening war in Erva's history". The Skavarians role begins with their conflict between the Skavarian Army and the Kanakist cult/armed group known as Gahle's Shadow. Gahle's Shadow had been burning the villages in Skavarian regions, and soon, even the Boscans had become involved, sending in soldiers to fight off the cultists. After months of fighting, Gahle's Shadow had been at massive loss of members, and soon resorted to what many considered to be an absolutely insanse move- through the usage of cult rituals, Gahle's Shadow had summoned forth Sepentus, a large demonic serpent predicted by Avalism to destroy the world in an apocalyptic event. Sepentus, however, would emerge far off in an "unknown land", followed by "the armies of Undecus". Because of this, the inhabitants of Ovinium had time to prepare for the landing of the demons, using the approaching locust storms (Sepentus was said to always be followed by a storm of locusts) that could be seen on the horizen, and by the time that the Undead Army had reached the Western Ovinium Coast, the Skavarian and Boscan armies had both increased by 50%. But, even with the new increase in troops, and the weakened Gahle's Shadow, the Undead Army showed no mercy when it landed, its troops crushing the defense set up by the Skavarians, taking very little loss of warriors. The Skavarians, for the next few months, would hold an increasingly weakened defense of the Western Coast, and soon, Mid-Ovinium was under siege, forcing refugees to be moved to the Eastern Ovinium Coast. Sepentus had also moved to the center of Ovinium, and the locust storms had begun to spread across the continent because of this. Even worse, Sepentus had released a strange fog that killed all crops that touched it, causing a massive loss of agriculture in Mid-Ovinium. Around early 2013, the inhabitants of Ovinium noticed that the Undead Army had begun to decrease. Celebration occured, but the Skavar, who had been fighting since the beginning of the war, believed that this was rather odd, and that the Undead Army was likely planning something. The very next day, the Undead Army launched a massive attack on Mid-Ovinium, and caused the last of the Western Front to be pushed back into the Mid-Front. Many lives were lost on this day, and the Skavar discovered from research that every time the Undead War was weakened and at a loss, Sepentus would release more troops, and the army would grow stronger. The Skavar suddenly realized that this meant the only way the Undead Army could be defeated was by killing Sepentus, something that many considered impossible, saying "You can't kill a prophecy". The Skavar decided that he would need to go with some of his legions and the help of his allies to the center of Ovinium and kill Sepentus, even though the center was considered by many "a death-trap for the mortal being", being a heavily defended region- even the Mid-Front had to avoid touching the center (map-wise). For the final months of the war, the Skavar, about 10 Skavarian legions, some of the Lionian's wizards, and the Boscans marched to Sepentus. However, early in the journey, the Boscans stated that they needed to withdraw their troops from the march, for they needed more aid in defending their lands. The Skavarians understood, and allowed the Boscan troops to return, even though they knew the consequence for this would be heavy- having to push through to the center on their own, besides the help of the Lionian wizards. But, their bravery led them to continue to campaign, and the Skavarian legions, wizards, as well as the Skavar, experienced a living hell that many of them would regret going through. The Undead knew of their plan, and fought visciously to keep the mortal troops away from Sepentus. But no matter what occured, the Skavarians and Lionians continued their journey, and fought their horrid Undead foes (even if they had gone back, they would still have to fight more of the Undead, as they were more rushing through the hellish waves rather than wiping them out as they went along). Finally, the heroes reached their goal- the center of Ovinium, and the location of Sepentus. But, the Undead had plans of their own, and launched attacks upon the Aketans, and were soon to punch through the Mid-Front, which was being held by the Boscans, as the Skavarians were ordered to retreat in preperations of an attack on the Eastern Front. But, just as all hope was lost, the Skavar, using Lionian weaponry, killed Sepentus, but not without the cost of most of his remaining men at the Battle of the Center. Sepentus, upon being defeated, let out a massive shriek of defeat, and his demonic soul erupted in an epic blast of energy, propelling the Skavar out into farther lands. The Undead saw Sepentus fall, and suddenly, they all fell apart into ashed, returning to the hell of Undecus. The mortal troops celebrated their victory, but suddenly, they realized something- the Skavar was missing. Government The Skavarian government works under the primary rulership of a monarch known as the Skavar. The Skavar holds his kingly position for life, as well as his family, being his wife, the Skavara, and his children; this family is known as the Royal Skavarian Family. Under the Skavar and his family are senators. The Skavar acts almost like a president in real world USA, excpet for the fact this position is a life position, and 5% of every Skavarian's income goes to him. The Skavar's role is to make most of the Skavarian nation's important and primary decisions, such tax income, warfare and or other conflict, celebrations and events, colonization, etc. However, there is the possibility that something was to happen to the Skavar, such as capture, illness, or even death. In case of such events, there is something known as the Hand of the Skavar. The Hand of the Skavar ironically thought, being one of the most important roles, doesn't do much when in work. Senators exist within the Skavarian government, which many would consider odd because of it being a monarchy. However, the Skavar is not able to manage to entire Skavarian Empire, so he needs some helping hands to do the job. Senators usually are divided into groups of four for each city clarified to be under Skavarian rule. Their jobs are to manage taxes (except the 5% that goes to the Skavar), crime, achedemics, buisnesses, and local armies. Without senators, the Skavar would be "pulling out his hairs trying to run every city". Racial Biography The Skavarians main race is that of human, or, mankind, but with small amounts of other species. The cause of the human racial domination is due to Aecia, during the beginning of the Skavarians, was primarily populated by the human species. Because of this, the Skavarians at first had a fear of outside peoples, even other humans, as they believed that they would threaten what was a young empire at the time. However, after total domination of Aecia, the unified tribes, who had begun development of stone structures (such as castles, streets, etc) began to become more open, greeting tribes in other countries, but to make some positive relations to gain the tribe's trust, only to eventually to use this trust to conquer the tribe through violent invasion, allowing mix of other sub types of the selk race (white). However, the Skavarians realized that they couldn't conquer other peoples with an all human army. The human race was outnumbered by certain species, such as boscan, and were physically weaker in compairson to some. Because of this, in 1876 AW, the Skavarians opened their doors for non-humans. However, the Skavarians still wanted humans dominance within their empire, and restricted some of the rights of the non-humans. The Skavarians had also decided to begin slave trade with argonians and boscans, but a good portion of these trades were in some way illegal, but the Skavarians decided to do their best to keep these illegal acts covered up. Today, the Skavarians are still primarily made up by humans, with about 88% of their population being human, 4% argonian (slave trade), 2% boscan (also from slave trade), 1% dwarf, 3% elven, and 2% zamboglian. The slave trade with the argonians and boscans still continue as well, with the Skavarians recieving about 9% of their income from this. Trivia *The Skavarian flag is actually in real life the Baner Y Ddraig Aur *The religion of Avalism is largely based on the real life religion of Christianity *The Skavarian soldier is meant to bear close resemblence to the Stormcloak soldier in the highly popular video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Citation Image 1: http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-17/es5s-stormcloak.html Image 2: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-wa-og.html UW Slideshow Image 1: http://www.kkpmc.net/pm2/pm2_dad.htm UW Slideshow Image 2: http://www.reverieworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3477 UW Slideshow Image 3: http://aintnosouthbrook.blogspot.com/ UW Slideshow Image 4: http://castleage.wikia.com/wiki/Sea_Serpent UW Slideshow Image 5: http://moviechat.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/top-5-battle-scenes/